Madu River or the Madu Ganga is one of the natures fascinating creations off South West coast in Balapitiya. Madu Ganga is a lagoon with hundreds of islands providing an idyllic setting for a well spent holiday and loads of authentic traditional settings. It may be one of the last remaining tracts of pristine mangrove forests in Sri Lanka.

The largest of these was called Maha Duwa which is currently Maduwa and enchanting isle of Kothduwa an island with a Buddhist monastery, where the friendly young monks will show you a 150-year-old book, fringed by coconut palms where according to legend, the Sacred Tooth Relic was once enshrined.

A boat trip is a wonderful way of seeing some of the hundreds of species of plants and animal’s monkeys eat fruit in the trees, a water monitor lizard glides slowly through the water, and cormorants, egrets and kingfishers wait patiently on the banks, eyeing the water for prey.

It is claimed that the main secret of the Madu Ganga is the tide. On any given day during the low tide the sea water comes inland and mixes with fresh water and in the evening, vice versa creating the magic of nature

The bridge you see is here is the Sri Lanka’s second longest bridge connecting Ma-Duwa island & Balapitiya. Width of the bridge is good enough for travel by foot, two or three where.